In this three-province chess championship competition, the top eight players selected from the chess championship held in each of the three provinces some time ago were selected as participants, and several retired professional chess players living in the three provinces were added.

Because some successful chess players such as Jiang Bowen gave up the opportunity to participate in this competition, a total of 28 people actually participated in this three-province chess championship competition.

Zhao Ya came to the arena with her relatives and friends, and the Tianfu Chengbei Gymnasium, which can accommodate thousands of people, was already overcrowded.

"So many people? All of them participate in the competition? Zheng Peipei was quite surprised to see that many parents were queuing up to take their children to the gymnasium.

"Mom, they're supposed to be here to watch the battle." Zhao Ya smiled slightly, seeing so many enthusiastic chess fans, she couldn't help but feel a little eager in her heart.

"Tianfu City's enthusiasm for learning Go is relatively high, and this competition invited a few big-name professional chess players to talk about chess, and only after getting admission tickets can you enter the venue." Zhao Yajun explained: "Each contestant has six tickets for relatives and friends, and we have three more tickets here. ”

"That's right, a friend of mine will also come to help me, and I can give her more tickets." Zhao Ya nodded, if this kind of thing is handed over to Zhao Yajun, she doesn't have to worry about it.

Zheng Peipei took a beautifully made admission ticket, looked at the five small side tickets on it, and asked curiously, "How much does this admission ticket cost?" ”

"This is a whole ticket for five games in three days, it costs 150 yuan a piece, and 40 yuan a single game, these are ordinary tickets, there are VIPs and some front-row seats have to be increased." Zhao Yajun has been in contact with the organizer for a long time and has a detailed understanding of this matter.

"It's very expensive, sell them all, you can make a lot of money." Zheng Peipei nodded, as if she was thinking about how much benefit the organizer could get if so many tickets were sold.

"Sister-in-law, the organizer of this kind of tournament can't make much money, and it really expands the influence of Go."

"I don't think so, if this stadium is calculated according to 3,000 seats, the ticket income will be at least 450,000." Zheng Peipei pouted, "The first prize is 100,000 yuan, in addition to the bonus, they can still fall a lot." ”

"Mom, the cost of this land, all kinds of arrangements, and the professional chess players who are invited to come to chess, these expenses are definitely not enough to calculate 500,000 yuan." Zhao Ya smiled: "And this is only an amateur game, I don't think there will be too many people watching chess." ”

"Xiaoya, what you said earlier is right, but you guessed the number of people watching chess." Zhao Yajun said with a smile: "I heard that the admission tickets were sold out three days ago, and now there are still people who buy tickets at a high price." ”

As Zhao Yajun was talking, a man in a black leather coat and a peaked cap came over and asked, "Friend, watching chess?" ”

"yes, what's wrong?" Zhao Yajun looked at the man vigilantly.

"I have a ticket here, if you don't have enough tickets, I can sell them to you."

Zhao Yajun was about to refuse, but Zheng Peipei preemptively asked, "How did you sell it?" ”

"Four hundred votes for the whole ticket, one hundred for a single vote."

"Ah, so expensive?" Zheng Peipei was speechless: "Isn't the whole ticket for five games one hundred and fifteen?" ”

"It's not expensive at all, it's hard to get a ticket now, so that the child can hear the master talk about chess live, this price is not high."

"Thank you, we have tickets, no need to buy them." Zhao Guanguan waved his hand and said.

"If you have a ticket, you still ask for the price." The cap man snorted, then turned and walked away.

"This ticket seller is really dark." Zhao Yajun shook his head and said.

A small episode made Zhao Ya and others see the craze of Go in Tianfu City, compared to the tepid situation in Rongcheng, it is obvious that this kind of thing is impossible to happen.

On the first day, only one game was arranged, the players signed in in the morning, and then the opponents were drawn by lot, and the first game officially started at 10 o'clock in the morning, with two hours of retention time for each player, and finally the second count, if it was slow, it may not be over until 2 o'clock in the afternoon.

It's not yet nine o'clock, and there is no competition, but the professional chess players who talk about chess have begun to warm up the chess fans who have entered the stadium to watch the game.

Zhao Ya and Xu Jing got in touch, and when it was a quarter past nine, they saw Xu Jing coming with her parents.

"Xiaoya, come on!" Xu Jing hugged Zhao Ya, and her affectionate gesture made the elders feel warm.

"I will." Zhao Ya smiled faintly, then turned her face to greet Xu Jing's parents, "Hello uncle and aunt." ”

"Xiaoya, thank you for always helping our family Xiaojing, she admires you the most now." Xu Jing's mother smiled and took Zhao Ya's hand.

Next to him, Xu Jing's father also chatted happily with Zhao Yajun and others.

Subsequently, Zhao Ya entered the game, and Xu Jing and others entered the gymnasium to watch the game.

As soon as they entered the gymnasium, Zhao Yajun and the others were shocked by the layout of the gymnasium.

The basketball court in the middle is divided into two huge chessboards, on either side of which are a dozen workers dressed in black and white, each with a large basket on his side, which is filled with a round stack of black and white cloth.

"What a big scene." Zhao Yajun couldn't help but sigh, such an arrangement is quite creative, originally he was worried that if he still explained it with a big game like Fengcheng, he had to bring glasses to watch chess from a distance.

With such an arrangement now, there is no problem with watching chess, but it takes a little effort to carry the chess pieces.

"It looks like this arrangement, the ticket price is not too expensive." Zheng Peipei nodded, although she didn't know much about Go, seeing the huge chessboard and more than a dozen staff on both sides, she felt that seeing this arrangement was worth the ticket price.

At this moment, under the command of a professional chess player holding a microphone, the staff placed a life-and-death problem in the corner of the large chessboard.

"Good morning, chess friends, I am one of the keynote speakers this time, the first round of the Three Provinces Chess Championship is about to begin, before talking about chess, we will first warm up for everyone with a life-and-death question." Zhang Yuan, who was wearing a suit, said clearly.

"This Zhang Yuan is a professional eight-dan, and he often talks about chess on the Go channel, and he talks very vividly." Zhao Yajun and the others had already found their seats, and seeing that Xu Jing and the others were a little curious and puzzled, Zhao Yajun said: "The question of life and death is in the part of the chessboard, where the two sides kill each other to see who can kill whom." ”

"Uncle Zhao, I know that if you eat the opponent's pawn, you will be successful." Xu Jing continued.

In the past two days, she has made up for her knowledge of Go, although her mind is still full of question marks, but she has somehow touched a little way.

"That's pretty much it." Zhao Yajun said with a smile.

He naturally saw that Zhao Ya's classmates and friends, as well as her parents, were also laymen in Go, and if it weren't for Zhao Ya's participation, they probably wouldn't have come to see any Go for the rest of their lives.

"The difficulty of this question is about 1 level, if any chess player is willing to answer, you can raise your hand, and we will give gifts if you answer correctly." Zhang Yuan walked to the position of the big chessboard, and then looked at the audience in the stands of the entire gymnasium.

Hearing his words, many people have already raised their hands, and some children are shouting that I will.

"Everyone's enthusiasm is very high, but in order to avoid confusion, I will call people randomly according to the ticket number of everyone's admission ticket, of course, if you are called, you can't or don't want to answer, then you can be silent, I will call someone else." After Zhang Yuan finished speaking, he called a random number.

A young boy of seven or eight years old happily ran down from the stands, waving the ticket in his hand, "I will answer, I will answer." ”

Soon, the little boy answered the questions correctly and was given a beautiful Go book.

Subsequently, Zhang Yuan put a few more questions about life and death, and the difficulty was about 1 paragraph, which was neither too difficult nor too easy.

The interest of the teenagers who were learning chess was aroused, but Xu Jing stared and couldn't understand, and her parents and Zhao Ya's parents had already started chatting in a low voice.

At the same time, Zhao Ya had already played more than forty moves with her opponent.